Ahead of the May 29, inauguration date, President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has rejected moves by the Department of State Services (DSS), to replace his Chief Security Officer (CSO) that was assigned to him since his emergence as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with a new hand.
It gathered from a credible source close the DSS that as soon as General Buhari emerged as President-elect, the Service hurriedly moved to replace his CSO, but met a brick wall as the President-elect vehemently rejected the offer which he viewed with suspicion and insisted that he would prefer to retain and continue with CSO AbdulRahman Mani as against having a new officer to be posted to him.
The Director-General of the DSS was believed to have gone to General Buhari to explain to him that based on his new position as President-elect, he was deserving of an officer with a higher rank to that of Mani. But General Buhari, a former Head of State and a military General, who understands the workings of the system, said there was nothing wrong in promoting Mani to the next rank to enable him qualify for a job he is already used to doing.
Accordingly and in line with the request of the President-elect, the Director-General of the DSS left and returned the following day with a letter approving the appointment of Mani as the substantive CSO to General Buhari.
NEWSPUNCH